KOCHI, april 25, 2026
The Jawaharlal Nehru Tropical Botanic Garden and Research Institute (JNTBGRI), Kerala, has submitted a report before the National Green Tribunal stating that Strobilanthes kunthiana, popularly known as Neelakurinji, an endemic shrub seen in the Western Ghats, is under threat from factors that include unregulated tourism and infrastructure expansion.
The Principal Bench of the tribunal in New Delhi had taken suo motu cognisance of the report “Neelkurinji becomes a ‘threatened species’, officially” published in The Hindu. It had directed authorities of the JNTBGRI to submit a report on the status and conservation of the purplish flowering shrub, which blooms once in 12 years.
The affidavit dated April 8 stated that infrastructure expansion, including road development and unregulated tourism, had significantly contributed to habitat degradation and fragmentation of Neelakurinji. These activities not only reduce the habitat extent, but also disrupt critical ecological processes such as pollination, seed dispersal and natural regeneration, it said.
Fire management
While traditional controlled burning by indigenous communities played a vital ecological role in maintaining grassland structure and promoting regeneration, inappropriate fire regimes in terms of frequency and intensity will adversely affect the semelparous life cycle (flowering once in 12 years) and synchronised flowering dynamics, it said.
The report said that tourism pressure, particularly during mass flowering events, has emerged as an additional stress factor. Unregulated visitor influx leads to trampling and waste accumulation resulting in further habitat degradation, and interference with the natural regeneration processes.
Action plan
The institute has proposed the preparation and implementation of a species-specific conservation action plan, integrating life-cycle biology and habitat requirements. Other suggestions include setting up long-term ecological monitoring plots across all major landscapes to assess population dynamics and regeneration success; restoration of degraded montane grasslands through phased removal of invasive species and reintroduction of native flora; and regulation of tourism through carrying capacity assessment, and strict enforcement.
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